Savory Strawberry Sauce over Grilled Spring Salmon

Ripe, deep red and beautiful spring strawberries always seem to arrive just in the nick of time.  About the time I am so done with the produce of winter and are truly in need of a new seasons produce.   My daughters are always teasing me about being the produce police, but I think eating seasonally is the healthiest way to eat.  And of course, it makes a new seasons produce much more exciting and appealing!

Around this time every year, I feel exhuberant when I see those little red beauties just staring me down from the produce aisle.  And because the strawberries are in season and regional, they are typically well priced.  With this in mind, I absolutely must indulge in the 5 pounds of strawberries, after all, I’ve missed those sweet juicy berries for at least a good six months and I can’t wait to get home with my stash and start creating!

Some of the berries I freeze for smoothies, pies, crumbles, cobblers and such, some of them I puree for yogurt parfaits, granola, cereal, oatmeal, pancakes and waffles, some I just wash and set out for everyone to snack on as they walk through the kitchen, and the rest are blended, mixed or used in various recipes I’m just dying to test. 

One such recipe is a savory spring strawberry sauce.  Several years ago, Ranger Craig and I took the girls to see the Washington Coast and stopped at a tiny little Inn to have dinner.  It was in a more remote area of Western Washington and honestly I was a little hesitant as to what this little Inn might offer in the way of dinner.  Wow, was I surprised.   Not only did they serve my two gals favorite, fried calamari, but they also served this fabulous grilled salmon with a strawberry sauce. 

I’ve been trying to re-create this sauce as simply as possible as most fruit sauces are a reduction sauce of some sort and typically require time and attention.  I truly wanted the pure, sweet, delicious taste of the strawberries to be prevelant, but spice it up with something fun, like chipotle chili powder. 

I tried this recipe several different ways with several different herbs and spices.  My favorite is this recipe, however, I’ll include an optional recipe for those of you who prefer a less spicy sauce.   This recipe would never have been perfected without the assistance of my fabulous recipe testers!  Thank you Ann, Teri and Kim for testing this recipe and giving me valuable feedback!  And thanks to my guy, Ranger Craig, for taste testing yet another recipe with chipotle chili powder! 

Happy Spring and Happy Cooking!

Savory Strawberry Sauce over Grilled Spring Salmon

Savory Strawberry Sauce

4 servings

Ingredients

1 lb fresh strawberries

¼ – ½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger

¼ teaspoon Chipotle chili powder

¼ cup white wine

1 tablespoon brown sugar (or more to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Serve over grilled salmon or try it over grilled or roasted pork tenderloin

Directions

Coarsely chop half the strawberries, and puree the other half in a food processor or blender.  Transfer the strawberries and puree to a sauce pan and heat on medium heat. 

Whisk in the fresh grated ginger, chipotle chili powder, white wine and brown sugar.  Bring the sauce to a lively simmer and let the sauce simmer slowly for about 5-10 minutes. 

If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with a little additional white wine or water.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Options:  A nice chipotle substitution is Thai Kitchen?s Asian chili paste.  If you prefer savory but not spicy, omit the chili powder/chili paste and add a teaspoon or two of lemon zest. 

Recipe tester, Ann Detlef, recommended substituting Gran Marnier for the white wine (less than 1/4 cup), especially if serving with roasted pork.  Ann rolled her pork in olive oil, spices, kosher salt and ginger and then grilled the pork.  You could also roast the pork as well.  Yummy!